CSBG Archive

Comic Book Legends Revealed #416

Welcome to the four hundred and sixteenth in a series of examinations of comic book legends and whether they are true or false. Click here for an archive of the previous four hundred and fifteen. This week, what Marvel “Create a villain” contest winner nearly saw his character become a founding member of the All-New, All-Different X-Men and instead went TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS before he saw his character finally appear in a Marvel comic? Plus, discover if the cast of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis was based on the cast of Archie! Finally, marvel at another classic Superman story with a major plot hole resolved in a 1970s reprint!

Let’s begin!

NOTE: The column is on three pages, a page for each legend. There’s a little “next” button on the top of the page and the bottom of the page to take you to the next page (and you can navigate between each page by just clicking on the little 1, 2 and 3 on the top and the bottom, as well).

COMIC LEGEND: A “create a character” contest entrant was nearly a member of the X-Men but instead did not appear for nearly THIRTY years!

STATUS: True

In the 1973 issue of FOOM magazine (Marvel’s fan magazine, created by Jim Steranko), they announced the winner of the “Create a Marvel Super Villain” contest from the first issue…

The following issue, they announced that Humus would instead be a charter member of Roy Thomas’ planned revamp on the X-Men! Roy Thomas was planning on doing an international version of the X-Men.

This, of course, eventually became a little something we call the All-New, All-Different X-Men…

Obviously, between 1973 and 1975 (and Thomas not writing the series), Humus was dropped.

Not until 2001, when Tom Brevoort, Kurt Busiek and Fabian Nicieza brought the character into the pages of the Thunderbolts. The first hint happened in Busiek’s last issue and then he actually debuted in issues #54/55….

Humus’ creator, Mike Barreiro, even inked the final page of the first appearance!

And, of course, he got the credit on the splash page, just like they promised him 28 years earlier!

It’s not a charter member of the All-New, All-Different X-Men, but it is still pretty damn cool!

As Tom Daylight noted, this is particularly interesting since Thunderbolts famously used a DIFFERENT character from a “create a character” contest, only that usage did not turn out so well in the end. Read this old Comic Book Legends Revealed for more information!

As an aside, I really can’t believe I never featured this story before. It seems like something I’d have done at around the same time as the above cited Charcoal legend, which was in the first three months of the column!!
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jccalhoun

I love that Supergirl and Superman can fly back in time to before Krypton exploded but they don’t seem to want to warn anyone or at least take some survivors back to the present with them. (Although I’m sure there’s some story out there where they tried and I just haven’t read it).

Mike Norris

AverageJoeEveryman

I figured it was Braniac 5 having an extensive knowledge of Kryptonian scientists and their dealings before the planet blowed up. But then I havent read much Silver Age LOSH and he is a Braniac so who knows.

Dave J.

I have that issue of foom magazine, and my name is listed as one of the submiters.I know one of the published submiters personaly.The drawing was done right in front of me.Many pros came from the ranks of submiters listed,it was their first exposure before fandom for most.In short, the very beginning of their careers.

Da Fug

I’m surprised I caught the Superman plot hole. But I also think I used Byrne revamp reasoning to dismiss it. Doesn’t Superman’s/Supergirl’s skin act as some sort of battery so he has super powers for a while even if he isn’t exposed to yellow sunlight? Maybe I’m thinking of Aquaman’s water dealio.

Pecos: The last “a” is missing in Brainiac 5’s name. A minor error compared to accidentally misnaming a hero after a villain. Fortunately for Lightning Lad, the Legion hadn’t met Cosmic King yet (only the Adult Legion version had appeared at that point) so Cosmic Boy was less likely to give him a hard time about that error than he may have during Levitz’s run.

Alex

Kamino Neko

@Da Fug – while Kryptonians do hold yellow solar energy in their bodies, so they can retain their powers even when not exposed to it (underground, etc), it’s also established that red solar radiation is absorbed preferentially, to the point that it will push the yellow energy out. So going to Krypton, even if the story is of an era that uses the ‘battery’ explanation, will depower Superman/-girl pretty quickly. (IIRC, kryptonite is also supposed to work the same way before it gets to a lethal level.)

And thanks buttler, et al for explaining the Charcoal thing.

Mike Blake

It also looks to me like the original “Cosmic King” panel has Invisible Kid racing to the time bubble in his invisible form.

That Supergirl-on-Krypton panel has bothered me since it was first published. My own thought back then was that maybe Kara was an invisible phantom not affected by the red sun because she was already on Krypton (a time travel gimmick DC had used before). But there’s a flaw in that theory.

Travis Stephens

Wasn’t there an arc in Adventure comics where the LSH tried to help Superman go back time and save Krypton/his parents? Think if Krypton is saved it causes problems in the 30th century. Also if you travel back in time Pre-Crisis w/o a time bubble, you are phantom that is out of phase with reality. Superman went back in time saw his parents that way.

Omar Karindu

@Cass: Back in those days, Superman could dot hat sort of thing all the time. The rules were that he couldn’t exist twice in the same tim period and that he couldn’t alter the course of past events, and editor Mort Weisinger generally made sure they held fast. Time-travel that doesn’t let you change anything about the past isn’t all that big a deal, really.

I’d be hard-pressed to name a member of the Superman cast who didn’t time-travel to Krypton before it exploded. Jimmy Olsen did it in issue 101 of his comic, Lois Lane went there and tried to steal Jor-El away from Lara (Lois Lane #59). Superman certainly went back to Krypton more than once (Superman #123, 141, World of Krypton #2), even bringing Batman along at least once (World’s Finest #191). Heck, teenage Jor-El even traveled in time and met Superboy (Superboy #121)! I’m not sure Perry White ever made the trip, anyway.

Post-Crisis, people still kept making that trip. Kon-El, the Jack Knight and Mikaal Tomas Starmen…

Heck, Superman, Supergirl AND Superboy have time-traveled to Krypton already in the New 52.

Amusingly, the Dobie Gillis *comic book* was “repurposed” into a comic book that was clearly trying to cash in on Archie, *Windy and Willie*. That short-lived title was launched in 1969, using old Dobie stories altered enough to no longer contain any Dobie Gillis licensed content (which license DC no longer had).

Mike Blake

Mike Blake

A while back DIAL B FOR BLOG not only related the Scooby Doo and Willy and Windy stories, but also reprints a TV GUIDE cover where Zelda and Thalia face off each other over Dobie for an article on “What Teenage Boys Look for in Girls.”

Also a funny parody of a famous Flash cover as “SECRET ORIGINS: Teens of Two Worlds.”

Allen

“DC reprinted it in a 1977 Treasury Edition” – There’s no such thing. Treasury’s were what Marvel called their version of what is known in printer’s terms as a Tabloid. DC only referred to their large comics as tabloids, never treasuries. I bought many of them at the time.

In this case, the reprint is in Limited Collectors’ Edition #C-52, subtitled “The Best of DC volume 1″.

Brian Cronin

Amusingly, the Dobie Gillis *comic book* was “repurposed” into a comic book that was clearly trying to cash in on Archie, *Windy and Willie*. That short-lived title was launched in 1969, using old Dobie stories altered enough to no longer contain any Dobie Gillis licensed content (which license DC no longer had).

Da Chef

Submitting a self-created character to be used as a one-time villain is good fun, but Marvel using him for 40 issues instead is something entirely different. Not cool without giving the man some more credit…and money.

AS

phred

James

That was a fun time to be reading Thunderbolts. Pretty much #50 – #75 is one of my fav runs on a title. It was sad to see Charcoal ‘die’. Especially considering every other character came back except him.

Comic-Reader Lad

Pecos, Supergirl can’t travel back in time to prevent Superman from being exposed to the Virus X (or Jimmy Olsen’s Kryptonite lodged in his camera) because under Mort Weisinger’s time travel rules in place at the time, Supergirl would have been turned into a phantom if she traveled back to a time where she already exists.

That’s how she can be on Krypton before she was born without being a phantom.